The coalition of Marines, sailors and Afghans again worked in unison, loading the patients onto stretchers and transporting them from the accident site to the helicopters.

“They responded very well,” said Azarte, a 21-year-old from Tucson, Ariz.

“If we didn’t have the interpreter and the ANA, it would’ve been a lot harder to treat those people,” Wilson said.

“They showed genuine care. They were willing to do what they could, but comfortable enough to know that we had it in control,” said Cooke, a 31-year-old from Grant’s Pass, Ore.

The injured were taken to FOB Delaram, where they received treatment from the Army’s 67th Forward Surgical Team. From there, they were flown to an Afghan hospital in Kandahar, where they will receive CAT-scans for head trauma and any possible neck and spinal injuries.

As the helicopters departed with the Afghans, the Marines and Afghan forces pushed forward to complete their original mission, but not before being delayed again by several hours, due to a possible roadside bomb.

“I’d rather spend six hours finding out it’s not an IED, than .3 seconds finding out that it is,” Cooke said.

The Marines completed the re-supply under the cover of darkness and with the use of night-vision goggles. After returning to the FOB, the Marines cleared their weapons, cleaned out the vehicles, and waited for the platoon leadership to give their intelligence debrief, which included praise heaped on the corpsmen.

“The corpsmen handled themselves well and took care of it pretty good,” said Chatfield, a 23-year-old from Kona, Hawaii…